


Before Copperspoon

by lululandd



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 06:16:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12426729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululandd/pseuds/lululandd
Summary: All the wrong Delilahs.





	Before Copperspoon

Daud disliked the Outsider for being cryptic. A name. Delilah. It was less common than Emily, of course, but there were still plenty of people called Delilah. 

The one he and his Whalers honed on first was Sun-Delilah. This one was beautiful, with skin darker than Billie's that seemed to glow and reflect sunlight perfectly, wonderfully curled hair that bounced with her every movement, large amber eyes that seemed to shine on its own. She was a mechanic for broken walls of lights, alarms, and arc pylons. Billie was enamoured with her from the start, feeding him information about her health, gnarled and burnt hands, her lineage, and her job, but nothing on potential suspicious activities. He sent her to find other Delilahs. 

Daud was more interested with the Shrine she has in her home. It was the most beautifully decorated shrine he had ever seen. He dubbed her Sun-Delilah because she seemed to have a strange relationship with the sun. The shrine had it's usual billowing purple garments and purple lanterns from who knows where, and she added golden fabric and golden ribbons in the midst of violet, making them stand out. She also put normal lantern amidst purple ones, casting an odd light, making Daud feel he was in a corner of the Void he had never been to before.

The rest of her apartment was filthy, with spare parts strewn around and containers of empty and half filled whale oil tanks. Daud was about to go into her bedroom when he had a hunch to use void gaze before entering. Surely an engineer's apartment would have some sort of tripwire or something else. When he saw nothing but a bed, a wardrobe full of clothes, and a few valuables, so he decided to leave it alone. He sent Yuri to follow her the next day.

A few uneventful days later Daud decided he would check on things. Yuri was the closest, so Daud went to see him first. He was still casing her apartment, looking in from a few rooftops over. He appeared next to him, "How is everything?" 

Yuri stood up, "Daud. She stayed in her apartment all day, fixing those parts she has about the place. She placed a few apricot tartlets on the shrine and talked to it a few times. I don't know whether the Outsider replied or not."

"Good job." Daud nodded, and he left. It seemed too good to be true if this Delilah turned out to be the one the Outsider talked about, so Daud ordered Yuri to keep his eyes on her, follow her movements and report back in a few days. Daud was glad Yuri wasn't enamoured by her, and he decided to see Billie. He was afraid the next Delilah was just, or even more beautiful than this one. To Daud's delight, Billie stayed professional, even though this one--as Daud saw-- was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Her skin was almost pitch black, sporting a very short cropped hair, with eyes the same colour as her skin, and again her skin glistened in the sunlight. The petite girl worked in an orphanage, her face tired but her smile wide and emanates joy and warmth. Beautiful Delilah wore an expensive but battered jacket atop her grimy clothes, indicating she was rich at some point of her life. 

"Billie." He greeted. 

"This one is clean. She likes children, goes out from the orphanage to buy food, sneaks them out to watch sunsets and sunrises, doesn't play favourites." She paused, "The other delilah I checked is a cranky old drunk with a walking stick, she lives with her grandson and everything checked out."

"Thankyou for not getting distracted again." He praised, Billie was always like this, quick to learn from her mistakes and she doesn't make up excuses. 

"Yeah. I heard there's a ship called Delilah and another one that lives right next to the palace gate, the one with bright blue-green drapes. I--" 

Daud cuts her off, "You go check the boat, I'll go check out the other one." 

"Bring back expensive things, will you?" Billie commented before disappearing. 

It was already dark for a couple of hours when Daud found the house. Daud saw no other entrances other than the front and back door. It was a very small house with no balcony, and Daud felt a sense of claustrophobia wash over him. He picked the door open to see the interior was narrower than he had initially thought. He would choose the flooded district over this cramped place any day. But then he did have a growing number of whalers to take care of. 

Daud used void gaze and saw that she lived with either a male room mate or her brother. He saw them in separate rooms doing their own thing. Delilah was reading in her room, while the male was writing in his. Daud left the house and climbed the rooftop to sleep. 

The next morning Daud woke due to the heat, he didn't know the palace district was this hot. He used void gaze to see that only the male remained in the house, still sleeping. Delilah was gone. 

_Fuck_. He didn't get to see her face last night, only learnt through void gaze that she was medium built with medium length hair. He checked around, maybe there was a woman around that matches his broad description, and he found several. He decided to go down to street level and whisper the name to see which one responds. 

This Delilah turned out to be a middle aged pale woman with a cute button nose and medium length flaxen hair that was brought up to a neat bun. She had green eyes that seemed to match her drapes, and wore a dull orange jacket that seemed to compliment her hair and eyes perfectly. She took a turn and went into a house. 

Daud was glad the house had a balcony. He crept in and was so astonished he had to bite his gloved hand to stifle his gasp. Right in front of his eyes was a large and detailed naked painting of the woman he's currently following. He used transversal to the nearest chandelier and then void gaze. She was slowly walking up the stairs, while on the top floor were several men about. One was on a bed, two seemed to laze around on a stack of pillows, and one was leaning against a wall. 

_The fuck?_

When she had passed the chandelier that he was perching on, Daud walked downstairs to see the place. The first floor was that of a normal house, plainly decorated with several boring paintings of the slaughterhouse, Dunwall streets, and Tyvian boats. There were no chandeliers, no expensive vases on tables, nothing. Uncomfortable looking chairs and a plain wooden table in the dining room, a battered old sofa, a sooty fireplace, a book case filled with six books, cobwebs, and an ashtray. The kitchen was the worst, there were only two breads and one apple, nothing else. The second floor where Daud entered from was more lavishly decorated, with chandeliers on the hallways, nude paintings of the woman Delilah, several small statues of the woman, cozy high back armchairs and teak tables. He wanted to steal several valuables, but everything looks one of a kind so he refrained himself and took coins lying about.

There were papers, badly stuffed in the drawers, and they were all rubbish. Either they were love letters, nude drawings, or cringe poetry. Daud grimaced. This woman might--

He heard screams from above, muffled fighting, a gunshot, and finally a thud. Daud leapt onto a chandelier, utilising void gaze to see what could be happening upstairs. One man was dead, that was clear, the others huddled around him and Daud prepared himself for whatever's coming next, but nothing happened. He heard pieces of conversation, 

"....know he's caught...." 

"....should have the decency...."

and then footsteps down the stairs. Daud saw them leave in silence, half-dressed. After all of them had passed the chandelier he was hiding on, he used transversal to the upper room to see what was going on. The dead man looked normal from the neck up, but skin discoloration was apparent from the chest down. Daud shook his head, how could the others not know the plague symptoms until thay have come this far? All of them had taken their clothes off for void's sake. Daud heard them grumble on the first floor as he made his way to the balcony. He doesn't think he needs to keep an eye on this Delilah.

He was making his way back when he saw one of his men on a rooftop. Rinaldo. He stood up as he saw Daud approach. 

"Sir. Billie found something, a ship called Delilah. It seemed to be pretty solid, as she requested you go immediately to slaughterhouse row." He dictated. Daud had liked him, Rinaldo was one of the quick learning whalers. 

"Understood."


End file.
